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Washington Latest in Tri/Walla Walla
- Thread starter seatownmedia
- Start date
I think you can answer your own question.
Moody didn't cancel it, the FCC did because the license expired back in July (per the STA filed by K225DG last year).
I'm not sure if interference was an issue, but K225CJ Walla Walla can be received with a decent signal across much of the Tri-Cities area with its 115W transmitter.
K225DG was previously on 104.3, but it was forced to change channels because of KZJJ on 104.5. When they eventually launched on 92.9, it was only on the air for a few weeks before they went off citing transmitter issues, and it never came back on the air afterward.
11 watts on Jump Off Joe is actually pretty good - enough to get a signal well outside the Tri-Cities, though not quite all the way to Moses Lake.
Why's it called "Jump Off Joe"?
Courtesy of KXRX, Townsquare Media's Walla Walla rimshotter for the Tri-Cities:
97rockonline.com
I believe the KXRX transmitter is located at "Pikes Peak" in Oregon , southeast of Walla Walla..
Why is it Called Jump-Off Joe?
It's a favorite spot in the Tri-Cities. Whether you're in high school or retired, you know Jump Off Joe. But do you know why it's called Jump Off Joe?
I believe the KXRX transmitter is located at "Pikes Peak" in Oregon , southeast of Walla Walla..
As someone who helped align the STL for 97.1 about 40 years ago, I can verify that 97.1 broadcasts from Pike's Peak. It's a heck of a view, but a troublesome road...especially in the winter and spring. 95.7, 89.7, 100.7, 93.3 and 91.3 are also up there. Very popular location for broadcasters.
I don't really think of the Pike's Peak FMs as Tri-Cities rimshotters, since they blow into the market with a lot of juice. I guess it depends upon what you think of as a rimshotter.
I don't really think of the Pike's Peak FMs as Tri-Cities rimshotters, since they blow into the market with a lot of juice. I guess it depends upon what you think of as a rimshotter.
What was that station 40 years ago? I remember it in the late 70s and early 80s as automated Top 40 using the Drake-Chenault XT40 format. I'd hear it when we camped out in Mt. Rainier National Park.
So was it still Top 40, or had it flipped to something else by then (I know it went to album rock, but I'm pretty sure there was another format in between)?
And KMBI could have easily moved that translator to 97.5...in fact they could have gone FULL POWER on that frequency since KOLW has been long-deleted. But there's enough religious stations in the Tri-Cities that I figured they didn't need the extra station anymore.
KXRX is a flamethrower of a signal and easily gets out 150 miles or more. I know Kyle has heard them around Omak or even further, steady signal (not scatter). They easily popped in and out on my 4-element in Cascade, ID when the planes flew by. That's 144 miles.
Strangely, the U-Haul truck radio had KIOK-94.9 on 92.9 as I was passing through south Richland on I-82 during the move back to WA on September 20th. It didn't sound like intermod, and I figured that the Walla Walla translator was no longer relaying KGDC.
KXRX is a flamethrower of a signal and easily gets out 150 miles or more. I know Kyle has heard them around Omak or even further, steady signal (not scatter). They easily popped in and out on my 4-element in Cascade, ID when the planes flew by. That's 144 miles.
Strangely, the U-Haul truck radio had KIOK-94.9 on 92.9 as I was passing through south Richland on I-82 during the move back to WA on September 20th. It didn't sound like intermod, and I figured that the Walla Walla translator was no longer relaying KGDC.
It still is, I can get it in Moses Lake when I have my antenna pointed south.
Your memory is really good! When I joined the combo in October 1982:
KHIT AM1320 was playing Drake's automated American Fun Radio program. Totally automated except for live local news in the mornings and at noon. AFR was basically oldies of the 50s/60s. Lots of Beach Boys. Lots of early Beatles. Elvis. But the station existed almost entirely because we had the local clearance for Paul Harvey
KSXT 97.1FM (XT97) was playing Drake's Rock 40 format called XT40. Yes, the calls were named after the format- this won't be the last time- see below. At that time we were live assist in the morning and locally voicetracked the other 19 hours per day.
I was a college freshman at the time and had all of one month's experience on the college station when I got the coveted 6-noon Sunday morning shift. (I worked cheap...) Get this- we changed formats at the beginning of my first airshift on the FM, but nobody at the station bothered to even tell me. LOL. I read about the format change in the local newspaper the day before. I DID call the PD and he was like, "oh, shoot, that would have been good to tell you!! The overnight lady will show you what to do." The new format was Drake's modern country. We instantly became Hit97- home of your country 6 pack. Calls switched within a few days to KHIT-FM. Even though we were Class C we only sent out 50kW at that time as that was what our plant was capable of. If that.
Soon after, the AM became classic country. The KHIT calls were "sold" to a Seattle station (106.9) for $35,000. Both stations became KAFR for TOH- essentially named after a Drake format we no longer used. Such originality! The XT reels were sold to a Colorado station. The AFR reels were sold to Tacoma's AM1360.
Actually, the other college station in town. KWCW 90.5 owned by the students of Whitman College. K-GUTS was/is owned by the 7th Day Adventists/Walla Walla college and has to the best of my knowledge always had some form of Christian programming. Although it was much more "preachin' and teachin'" in the 80s.
Thanks for the response and the additional information...nice to know how it changed after I was no longer listening in intermittently.
And KSXT wasn't the only Drake-Chenault XT40 station that matched its calls to the format -- I also remember KDXT(FM) in Missoula, MT, which was XT93 and was obviously also carrying the automated XT40 format in the summer of 1980 when we drove through Missoula on the way to a family reunion in Michigan. I didn't get back to Missoula again until the fall of 1992 -- by that time they were live and local, but still called themselves XT93 as an adult-leaning Top 40. I think they dumped the format, call letters, and name a couple years later, though.
This isn't the only place known as Jump Off Joe. It was an old, (dating from the late 1800s) but fairly common pioneer nickname for a butte or ridge overlooking a city.
Who was Joe? Why did he jump off? That's lost to history, I'm afraid
While more tasteful names have replaced Jump Off Joe officially elsewhere, The Tri-Cities let their freak flag fly high and officially named theirs Jump Off Joe.. But there were still old timers in Moscow, ID in the 1990s who remember when Paradise Ridge had that nickname too.